Thanks to its innovative design and wealth of fantastic games, the Nintendo DS has scrambled to the top of the handheld gaming war, making the hardware wizards at Nintendo the darlings of the games industry.
But what if they don't hold the patent on the touchy tech?
As reported by video game blog Gamepolitics, John R. Martin has filed a complaint alleging that he owns the patent on the system's lauded touch screen. While the patent was updated in August of 2005 -- a full six months after Nintendo launched the DS -- it was originally filed a decade earlier in 1995.
The patent seems to cover the key input ingredient of Nintendo's popular handheld, citing "an improved method of operating a touch screen on a CRT or ICD computer screen [that] uses finger release as input registering" in "an electronic game device system [which] is switchable between an amusement mode and a gaming or gambling mode and is useful for vehicles such as airplanes or boats..."Sounds a little like the DS to us, minus the gambling bit.
Nintendo, however, doesn't see the connection -- the company has responded by requesting that the entire suit be summarily dismissed.
This isn't Nintendo's first scrape with patent infringement. Earlier this year the company coughed up $21 million to tech company Anascape over several Nintendo game controllers, including their famous Wavebird, widely considered the first legitimate wireless game controller.
Re: Nintendo facing patent lawsuit over DS -
07-09-08
People get jeleous that someone else is getting rich off of something similar to theirs from across the world. So what is the only thing they can do? Sue their legs off.
Nintendo facing patent lawsuit over DS -
07-09-08
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